An experiment at NKI
Paper presented at the ZIFF-Ringkolloquium, FernUniversität, Germany, 1991
This paper describes the background, the design and results of a research project on the concept of the "personal/tutor counsellor" carried out at NKI during the first half of the 1980'ies. The project has been reported on several occasions, in the NKI research report series (Rekkedal 1981, 1985) and in conference papers and articles (e.g. Rekkedal 1982, 1986).
The NKI Foundation NKI is the second largest non-governmental educational institution in Norway. It is organised as a non-profit foundation with governmental control and financial support from the state. The organisation has four different departments offering services to the public:
NKI College of Engineering is a four year college of engineering decentralised with 18 centres offering full-time studies. Opposite of what is happening in many academic institutions today, where many traditional academic institutions developing into to dual mode institutions offering both on-campus studies, distance education or other flexible forms of teaching, the NKI College originally developed from a distance education programme. The college still differs from most similar institutes in organisation and methods, which may be explained by the inheritance from distance education. The college is the largest engineering college in Norway.
NKI College of Computer Science is a full-time college on administrative computer science and information systems development offering 1, 2 and 3 year programmes. It also offers a two-year part time course giving an equivalent qualification of the first year of the full-time programme.
NKI Distance Education is the second largest distance teaching institute in Norway recruiting approximately 10 to 15.000 students a year, or approximately 50.000 course enrolments. The programmes offered cover technical/vocational training, management studies, computer science and business training on secondary and tertiary level.
NKI publishing house develops materials for both NKI activities and for sale on the open market.
To support the activities NKI has established a Research and Development Unit responsible for research in education and evaluation. The unit has given priority to research and development activities within distance education.
The drop out problem has been given high priority among researchers in distance education for many years. It is open to discussion, however, whether drop out/completion of courses and programmes constitutes the most significant criterion for decisions about the effects of didactic improvements or changes in the distance learning system. We might assume that adults who take up part-time study beside other job, family and social activities, should take responsibility for decisions about enrolment and - if desired - cancellation of their studies. Thus, for some students, dropping out might be a more goal oriented decision than continuing the studies towards a formally defined completion. In spite of this fact, we believe that the majority of our enrolees actually wish to progress as far as possible towards the completion of a study programme.
In 1980 the Norwegian Association for Distance Education initiated a co-operative project on "non-start" and "early withdrawal". The schools participating wished to analyse why so many students enrol in distance education and never start to study or withdraws during the initial phase, and which measures could be taken to reduce the rate of non-start and drop-out. This experiment was one sub-project.
For more than 10 years NKI had carried out surveys to examine, among other aspects, the drop-out problem in distance education. We had also carried out experimental research where the effects of certain pedagogical, organisational and administrative efforts to increase the total quality of the teaching/learning system had been examined. These experiments had dealt with aspects of distance learning, such as introductory courses in the techniques of distance learning, follow-up of newly enrolled students, follow-up of inactive students, turn-around time of assignments and pre-produced tutor's comments. The results from these experiments and other administrative innovations had been promising, and to a large extent the measures examined had been permanently applied.
During the planning stage of the above mentioned co-operative project, we carried out some intensive group interviews with several new students. These interviews confirmed, in fact, that the students seemed to be generally satisfied with their experiences in distance study.
The students reported, however, one common difficulty: They were reluctant to contact the administration, the counsellors or their tutors when they met problems, and they were uncertain about whom to contact in order to seek advice on different problems.
We felt that the rationalisation and "industrialisation" of distance education that seem to be necessary to cater for large student groups at acceptable cost in a "large scale" distance teaching system, probably result in a division of labour and a depersonalisation of teaching processes. This situation seemed to cause larger difficulties for many students than we were aware of.
In the early days of correspondence education, the schools were often established by enthusiastic persons stimulated by an idea or a specific situation. What these people lacked in formal pedagogical knowledge, they compensated by entrepeneurial vision and devotion to their work. As professional distance teaching organisations developed, some of what we earned in theoretical orientation and efficient systems might have been lost in reduced personal teaching/learning relationships.
Thus, we decided to design an experiment where we wished to personalise teaching by introducing what we called "the personal tutor/counsellor".
The term "counselling" may have different connotations for different people. In correspondence education, tuition normally means marking and commenting on assignments, in some cases including other types of student-tutor communication, such as face-to-face teaching, telephone tutoring, audio cassettes and today even video-phone, computer communication etc. as additional elements. By counselling we understand all other interactions between student and institute which are not directly subject related. The counselling function thus embraces advice on general problems related to part-time and distance study, course choices and further training, examinations, registrations, financial support and payment. In other words counselling in distance education covers activities which under another broad term can be described as student support services (Tait & Sewart 1983).
In the experiment one person integrates the roles of different tutors in different subjects, as well as student advisors/counsellors. Within the responsibilities of this tutor we also tried to include other measures which we believe are important to help the distance learner to complete his/her studies successfully. In short, we tried to construct a system which would constitute a "new" way of organising the tutor's work during the initial phases of the study period, the main emphasis put on increasing the experienced quality of the didactic functions of the distance tutor and the two-way communication between the tutor and the student.
The students selected for the experiment were assigned to a personal tutor who followed them closely during the 3 to 11 first courses of the study programme for a certain qualification. By this formal change in organisation, a number of aspects of the tutor's work and the division of labour between the administration, the counsellors and the tutor were changed.
We also selected a control group, that was not deprived of any of the services which had been introduced on the basis of theory and research during the preceding 10 years, and which at the time constituted a normal part of the NKI distance teaching system. The main difference in the treatment of the experimental and the control group was that the experimental students were taken care of by one personal tutor integrating administrative, teaching and counselling functions, which normally were divided between different persons, departments and specialists.
The students were placed in the two groups by random selection. The design took this form:
E: R X1 01
C: E X2 02
E= Experiment group C= Control group
R= Random selection into groups
X1=Experimental variable(s) X2=Control variable(s)
O1 and O2 = Measures of study success, rate of completion, student attitudes
Data were collected from the normal NKI files and study records, and minute records kept by the tutor on the communication with the students, follow-up letters, special measures, telephone calls etc. A small questionnaire was developed to assess the students' attitudes. It contained questions on correspondence study in general, the tutors' work and counselling to examine whether different aspects of being a correspondence student where experienced differently by the students in the two groups.
The students were selected into the experiment during a period of 5 months. Data on study progress were collected at the time of completion of the first defined stage of the study programme, at the time of cancellation or exactly 8 months after enrolment (for students who neither had completed or dropped out).
It is easy to see that the experiment has some drawbacks concerning control of sources of error, which variable that cause possible effects, and generalisations to other systems. We were clearly aware of these problems when deciding to carry out the project. We simply wanted to examine a total system, instead of looking at isolated variables - the aim being to see if the new organisation "could produce a better total quality system". Consequently, we find that possible generalisations to other systems must origin in the basic ideas, rather than in specific findings.
The experimental role of the tutor is described below. The experiment covered 10 different aspects of the tutors work.
Students taking a complete study programme at NKI will "meet" many different tutors. These tutors will all mainly feel responsible for their own subject(s). Their probable lack of insight into the student's total situation and the complete teaching system might make it difficult to give maximum support.
For the experimental students we arranged a system were the students communicated with only one tutor during the first phase of their studies. One drawback of this organisation is that the tutor has to teach more than one subject, and thus perhaps do a less specialised job. However, we found the advantages obvious. The tutor's work became more varied. The tutor and the student may have time to achieve a better mutual understanding. The tutor is able to point out relationships between the courses and to help the student transfer knowledge from one course to another (physics/mathematics). It is also this organisation that makes it possible for the tutor to take responsibility for general counselling of the student, and that opens the gate to the other arrangements described below.
Correspondence tutors at NKI, and most other similar institutions, are normally paid on a per assignment basis. It is difficult to assess which consequences this fact may have for the quality of the work done by different tutors. However, we can easily think of possible negative effects on the quality of teaching, and the tutors' attitudes to their work. (se e.g. Harris 1975). The experimental tutor was employed on a fixed salary basis. This should ensure that the time spent on each student and each assignment would be in accordance with the student's real needs.
The full time student advisors have normally insufficient subject knowledge to help the student constructively with subject related problems that may arise. The advice given may constitute some kind of "pseudo counselling", which sometimes might reduce the student's feelings of isolation, but which does not really help to solve learning problems or difficulties with study planning or organising the studies. The system where the roles of the tutor and counsellor are integrated in one person increases the possibilities of meeting the student's needs whether they concern subject matter, study organisation, personal/social difficulties, administrative procedures or financial matters.
By employing the tutor part-time or full-time within the school's administration, the turn-around time can be reduced. The large importance of quick turn-around of assignments had been demonstrated in a previous NKI project (Rekkedal 1983). In this experiment all student assignments were normally returned to the student the same day they were received, and two postal handlings (from the school to the tutor and back) were removed from the system. The part-time tutors, who took care of the control group, were requested to return the assignments within one day, as a normal routine. Nevertheless, the experimental group was ensured a lower turn-around time.
Tutoring by telephone was also included in the experiment. The tutor/counsellor phoned all students who had given their telephone number, in connection with the assignments submitted and as part of the student follow-up routines.
The tutor in the experiment contacted all the experimental students approximately 10 days after dispatch of the study material. If possible, the contact was established by phone. The other students received a form letter. The experimental students were also contacted one month later by phone or letter, and again during the third month after enrolment. As part of the normal routines, the control group students received a form letter signed by one of the counsellors approximately 10 days and one month after enrolment. These procedures had been introduced on a permanent basis as a result of an experiment carried out in the early 70'ies (Rekkedal & Hallem 1975). The difference in treatment of the experimental group and the control group was mainly the difference in individualisation and personalisation achieved through the personal tutor/counsellor arrangements.
In the ordinary NKI system, students who have been inactive for one whole calendar month receive a post card. A sequence of two form letters and questionnaires follows the post card if the student does not contact the school or take up the studies during the next two months (see Rekkedal 1973). The experimental students in the project were followed up in a similar way. The main difference again being that these contacts were established by the tutor/counsellor either by telephone or by personal letters.
NKI had introduced a course in study techniques as the first course (1 submission) for all students enrolled in programmes consisting of several single courses. The tutor teaching the experimental group commented and assessed the work of the students in this course also, while the control group was assigned to a separate teacher in this introductory course.
The use of pre-produced tutor comments was not specifically defined in the experiment. Complete and detailed solutions to all assignments were developed, including standard comments. These were enclosed with the students' assignments according the tutor's judgement of the individual student's needs during the studies.
All NKI tutors have prepared a personal presentation or letter of introduction. The presentation sheet is sent to the student together with the first assignment returned from the tutor. It contains personal information, advice on the course and a picture of the tutor. The experimental group tutors received the presentation together with the first packet of study material. Consequently, the experimental students were, in fact, introduced to their tutor and could take contact on their own initiative, even prior to submitting the first assignment. If they did not approach the tutor when meeting difficulties, the tutor would contact them in any case, as part of the initial follow-up. The tutor's presentation described the tutor's role and the possibility of taking advantage of telephone tutoring.
As a result of the experiment we hoped to find some answers to the following questions:
The results were measured by the defined "study success" variables:
The attitude variables measured by the questionnaire were:
Some of the variables examined do not have direct relationships with the treatment in the experiment. On the other hand, it might happen that possible positive experiences of the experimental variable would lead to more generalised positive feelings spreading over to other aspects of the study situation.
The data collected from the experiments were considered to be of either nominal or ordinal scale types. The data were tested for statistical significance by applying the Goodman-Kruskal (1954, 1963) gamma correlation and chi-square.
The complete account of the results is presented in the final report (Rekkedal 1985). In this paper I shall shortly summarise the results and our conclusions.
The conclusions were quite clear. We found marked and significant differences between the groups.
8 months after enrolment the experimental group had a significant higher rate of completion. The number of active students were comparable in the two groups, while the control group had a significantly higher number of inactive students. Similar results were found after one year of study. The experimental students were more active in their studies and had completed a larger number of study units and single courses during the experimental period.
Concerning "start/non-start" we found no significant differences between the groups. The non-start rate was "low" in both groups, 9 and 13 percent, respectively. Neither, did we find any significant difference concerning lapse of time between enrolment and registration of the first assignment.
In general the experimental students reported more positive attitudes towards "correspondence study in general", "the study material" and "the work on assignments", aspects not included in the project. None of these differences were, however, statistically significant. This was hardly unexpected, as these aspects were not part of the experimental variables. Concerning "feelings of isolation" we found less problems in the experimental group, but again the differences were not statistically significant. This might be surprising as one could expect that the more personal communication that we hoped to create by the integrated personal tutor/counsellor role would reduce possible feelings of isolation in the studies.
On the other hand we found clear and significant differences on the following areas:
The experimental group students expressed more positive attitudes towards "the general quality of the tutor's work", "assistance and support from the tutor", "guidance and counselling form the institute, tutor or counsellor" and "follow-up by the institute and/or the tutor", and whether "telephone tutoring is of any help in distance study".
Returning to a project some years after the final report was published raise some problems. Many things have changed. 5 to 10 years ago distance education for NKI meant mainly correspondence education, however, supplemented by, in some cases, group work, audio tapes, telephone and a quite developed support system, often also supplemented by local direct teaching in classes. We normally used the term correspondence education. In this paper I have deliberately chosen not to define the terms very clearly.
The work on the "personal tutor/counsellor" concept and this experiment resulted in NKI organising the initial phases of study according to these principles. We found that introducing the personal tutor/counsellor on a normal basis was both financially and pedagogically sound. However, during the last couple of years organisational changes, new media and some difficulties concerning cost and efficiency control of the tutor/counsellor role in NKI have gradually lead to different organisational, administrative and teaching structures. Basic ideas from the project has survived and are implemented by larger emphasis on the counselling functions of the distance tutor, whether part-time or full-time, experiments with other media, such as the fax machine, computer mediated communication (see e.g. Rekkedal & Paulsen 1989) and two-way video systems. Although, I see the key elements in correspondence education also to be of central importance in distance education today, and in the (near (?)) future, it seems clear that past experiences cannot be directly transferred to new systems, even when the basic ideas are still valid.
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